Thickness-driven polar spin reorientation transition in ultrathin Fe/Au(001) films

Abstract

The magnetic properties of ultrathin Fe films grown on Au͑001͒ were studied at room temperature as a function of iron thickness in the range of two to three Fe monolayers ͑ML͒. The magneto-optic Kerr effect ͑MOKE͒ indicated that a spin reorientation from an in-plane direction to the film normal direction takes place when the iron thickness is reduced from 2.3 to 2.0 ML. Values of the effective magnetic anisotropy constants were determined from MOKE and superconducting quantum interference device measurements. The flow analysis of the effective anisotropy constants in anisotropy space revealed that the transition occurs via an intermediate state of canted magnetization.

First principles and metadynamics study of the spin-reorientation transition in Fe/Au(001) films

“…Due to the fact that the magnetic anisotropy energy is sensitive to the lattice relaxation the electronic structure has been determined for different values of the Fe-Au interlayer distance changing from 1.6Å to 1.7Å. The range of the interlayer distance is in agreement with measurements [3] and previous ab-initio calculations [6]. We describe the magnetic system in terms of an extended Heisenberg model:…”

“…Fe monolayers grown on Au(001) have also been referred as a model two-dimensional ferromagnet [4]. The SRT for Fe layers on Au(001) occurs between two and three atomic layers [3]. Based on our computational results we will argue that, in this particular case, the SRT is the consequence of the competition between the on-site uniaxial anisotropy and the anisotropy of the exchange couplings.…”

“…Ref. [3] and the references therein. Fe monolayers grown on Au(001) have also been referred as a model two-dimensional ferromagnet [4].…”

Fermi Surface Manipulation by External Magnetic Field Demonstrated for a Prototypical Ferromagnet

“…Fe grown on Au(001) is characterized by a very low lattice mismatch (0.6%), which results in minute strain experienced by the Fe film. Various magnetic and electronic phenomena such as ferromagnetism in the monolayer (ML) regime [18], the existence of quantum well states [19], or the thickness-driven spin-reorientation transition [20] have been studied in this system in the past. We analyzed the electronic structure of the Fe(001)/Au(001) system using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) for four different remanent in-plane magnetization directions of the FM film, thus exploring the electronic origins of the SOI-related effects.…”

MgO thickness-induced spin reorientation transition in Co0.9Fe0.1/MgO/Co0.9Fe0.1 structure

“…The change of the balance between these quantities can result in the reorientation of the anisotropy axis -the spin reorientation transition (SRT). This phenomenon has been observed either as a function of temperature, [8][9][10][11] or thickness of the: magnetic layer [10][11][12][13][14] or capping layer. [15,16] In addition, oscillations of the magnetic anisotropy (MA) as a function of the MgO barrier thickness in the MTJs composed of the binary multilayer Co/Pt and Co/Pd were observed.…”